US East Coast earthquake rattles millions, but region escapes sweeping damage

US East Coast earthquake rattles millions, but region escapes sweeping damage
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Officials say an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 shook the densely populated New York City metropolitan area. It was centered in New Jersey about 45 miles west of NYC and 50 miles north of Philadelphia. (AP/File)
US East Coast earthquake rattles millions, but region escapes sweeping damage
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Residents and police gather outside of homes that were structurally damaged and had to be evacuated after New York City and parts of New Jersey experienced a 4.8 magnitude earthquake on April 05, 2024 in Newark, New Jersey. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Updated 06 April 2024
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US East Coast earthquake rattles millions, but region escapes sweeping damage

US East Coast earthquake rattles millions, but region escapes sweeping damage
  • The agency reported a quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Lebanon, New Jersey
  • The Fire Department of New York said there were no initial reports of damage

NEW YORK: An unusual East Coast earthquake shook millions of people from New York and Philadelphia skyscrapers to rural New England on Friday, causing no widespread damage but startling an area unaccustomed to temblors.
The US Geological Survey said over 42 million people might have felt the midmorning quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8, centered near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, or about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of New York City and 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Philadelphia.
People from Baltimore to Boston and beyond felt the ground shake. Nearly 30 people were displaced when officials evacuated three multifamily homes in Newark, New Jersey, to check for damage. Officials around the region were inspecting bridges and other major infrastructure, some flights were diverted or delayed, Amtrak slowed trains throughout the busy Northeast Corridor, and a Philadelphia-area commuter rail line suspended service as a precaution.
Pictures and decorative plates tumbled off the wall in Christiann Thompson’s house near Whitehouse Station, she said, relaying what her husband had told her by phone as she volunteered at a library.
“The dogs lost their minds and got very terrified and ran around,” she said.


Whitehouse Station Fire Chief Tim Apgar said no injuries were reported, but responders fielded some calls from people who smelled gas. Nearby, the upper portion of the 264-year-old Col. John Taylor’s Grist Mill historic site collapsed onto a roadway, according to Readington Township Mayor Adam Mueller.

In a 26th-floor midtown Manhattan office, Shawn Clark felt the quake and initially feared an explosion or construction accident. It was “pretty weird and scary,” the attorney said.
Earthquakes are less common on the eastern than western edges of the US because the East Coast does not lie on a boundary of tectonic plates. But 13 earthquakes of magnitude 4.5 or stronger have been recorded since 1950 within 500 km (311 miles) of Friday’s tremblor, the USGS said. The strongest was a 5.8-magnitude quake in Mineral, Virginia, on Aug. 23, 2011, that jolted people from Georgia to Canada.
Rocks under the East Coast are better than their western counterparts at spreading earthquake energy across long distances, scientists note.
“If we had the same magnitude quake in California, it probably wouldn’t be felt nearly as far away,” said USGS geophysicist Paul Caruso.
Over a dozen aftershocks were reported in the ensuing hours in the region, including a 4.0-magnitude quake early Friday evening, according to the USGS.
A 4.8-magnitude quake isn’t large enough to cause damage, except for some minor effects near the epicenter, the agency posted on the social platform X. By comparison, the temblor that killed at least 12 people and injured more than 1,000 in Taiwan on Wednesday was variously measured at a magnitude of 7.2 or 7.4.
Still, Friday’s quake caused some disruption.
Flights to the New York, Newark and Baltimore airports were held at their origins for a time while officials inspected runways for cracks. The Seton Hall University men’s basketball team was delayed getting back to New Jersey from Indianapolis for a welcome-home celebration of the team’s National Invitational Tournament win Thursday.
At least five flights en route to Newark were diverted and landed at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where some passengers rented cars to get home.

 

Traffic through the Holland Tunnel between Jersey City, New Jersey, and lower Manhattan was stopped for about 10 minutes for inspections, the Port Authority of New York and Jersey said.
In midtown Manhattan, motorists blared their horns on shuddering streets. Some Brooklyn residents heard a boom and felt their building shaking. Cellphone circuits were overloaded for a time as people tried to reach loved ones. Later, phones blared with earthquake-related notifications during the New York Philharmonic’s morning performance, where Anton Webern’s Six Pieces for Orchestra “literally ended with a cellphone alert,” said spokesperson Adam Crane.
At UN headquarters in New York, the shaking interrupted Save The Children’s chief executive, Janti Soeripto, as she briefed an emergency Security Council session on conditions in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war. In the Bronx, baseball’s Yankees were taking batting practice ahead of their home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays when the quake struck. Manager Aaron Boone later said he “thought it was the sound system booming.”
In New York City’s Astoria neighborhood, Cassondra Kurtz was giving her 14-year-old Chihuahua, Chiki, a cocoa-butter rubdown for her dry skin. Kurtz was recording the moment on video when her apartment started shaking hard enough that a large mirror banged audibly against a wall.
The video captured Kurtz looking around, perplexed. Chiki, however, “was completely unbothered.”
Friday’s quake was felt as far as Maine, where “it felt like the floor was almost doing the wave” in Meghan Hebert’s South Portland apartment. Some Vermont and New Hampshire residents initially figured it was snow falling off their roofs or plow trucks rumbling by. In

Hartford, Connecticut, paralegal Stacy Santa Cruz watched her computer screen shake.
Philadelphia high school student Ian Ventura took the quake as a sign of ominous times, coming between the Taiwan tremblor and Monday’s total solar eclipse in North America.
Scared for the world’s future, “I might take some risks, text this one girl,” said Ventura, 16. “I got the message typed out. I might send it.”
President Joe Biden said he spoke to New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy about the earthquake. The White House said the administration would provide help if needed.
New York City had no indications of major safety or infrastructure problems from the earthquake, Mayor Eric Adams said. City Buildings Commissioner James Oddo said officials would watch for any delayed cracks or other effects on the Big Apple’s 1.1 million buildings.
Engineers said New York’s skyscrapers are made of high-strength materials and designed to sway slowly to withstand winds and other impacts. Modern high rises also have other features to help absorb any shock.
“High-rise buildings can be one of the safest places you can be in an earthquake,” said Ahmad Rahimian of the engineering firm WSP Global.
Meanwhile, even the delicately placed eggs that form part of a sculpture at a Chinatown art gallery stayed in place during Friday’s quake, to the relief of gallerist Kristen Thomas.


Saudi Arabia, India eye new cooperation areas as FMs meet in Delhi

Saudi Arabia, India eye new cooperation areas as FMs meet in Delhi
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Saudi Arabia, India eye new cooperation areas as FMs meet in Delhi

Saudi Arabia, India eye new cooperation areas as FMs meet in Delhi
  • Last September, about 50 agreements were signed under Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council
  • Saudi Vision 2030, India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 are complementary for new partnerships, Jaishankar says

NEW DELHI: Saudi Arabia and India held talks on Wednesday in New Delhi, led by their foreign ministers, aimed at identifying new partnerships.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan and India’s S. Jaishankar co-chaired the second meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Political, Security, Cultural and Social Affairs, which falls under the Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council.

Their talks follow the council’s first leaders’ meeting last September, during which Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over the signing of about 50 initial pacts.

They had also agreed to form a joint task force to enable a $100 billion Saudi investment in India.

In a livestreamed video of his opening remarks, Prince Faisal said: “The inaugural meeting of the Saudi-India Strategic Partnership Council … has set the stage for a new era of cooperation across various fields and we look forward to further enhancing the council’s capabilities and efficiency in achieving our shared objectives.”

He added: “We are confident that advancing cooperation serves our mutual interests as well as benefits the region more broadly, and I look forward to exploring the diverse aspects of our cooperation.”

Saudi Arabia is home to about 2.6 million Indian nationals, making it the third-largest host country for the diaspora, after the UAE and the US.

The Kingdom is also India’s fifth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two countries at around $43 billion in 2023-2024.

Trade and investments are “important pillars” in Saudi-India relations, Jaishankar said during the meeting as he highlighted recent efforts to boost cooperation, including in technology and renewable energy.

“Saudi’s Vision 2030 and Viksit Bharat 2047 hold complementarities for our industries to build new partnerships. I am glad to note that our businesses are collaborating intensively,” he said, referring to the Kingdom’s transformation plan and India’s goal to become a developed nation.

“While we may be time-tested friends, but our partnership is premised on progress and focused on the future.”

 


COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?

COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?
Updated 13 November 2024
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COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?

COP29: Why are countries fighting over climate finance?
  • Trump’s victory in US election has overshadowed COP29 talks over expectations he will halt US climate finance contributions
  • Developing countries say specific amount needed to tackle climate change should be starting point for negotiations 

BAKU: The main task for nearly 200 countries at the UN’s COP29 climate summit is to broker a deal that ensures up to trillions of dollars in financing for climate projects worldwide.
Here is what you need to know about the Nov. 11-22 summit talks on finance.

WHAT IS THE GOAL?

Wealthy countries pledged in 2009 to contribute $100 billion a year to help developing nations cope with the costs of a transition to clean energy and adapting to the conditions of a warming world.
Those payments began in 2020 but were only fully met in 2022. The $100 billion pledge expires this year.
Countries are negotiating a higher target for payments starting next year, but some have been reluctant to confirm its size until it is clear which countries will contribute.
Instead, they are circling around the idea of a multi-layered target, with a core amount from wealthy countries’ government coffers, and a larger sum that includes financing from other sources such as multilateral lending institutions or private investors.
In the past, public money made up the bulk of contributions to the $100 billion goal.

WHO SHOULD CONTRIBUTE?

Donald Trump’s victory in the US election has overshadowed the COP29 talks, because of expectations he will halt US climate finance contributions.
That would leave a hole in any new global target that other donors would struggle to fill. Some climate negotiators also expect the overall target agreed at COP29 to be smaller, given the expected lack of contributions from the world’s biggest economy.
The US provided nearly $10 billion in international climate finance last year, less than the European Union’s $31 billion contribution.
So far, only a few dozen rich countries have been obliged to pay UN climate finance and they want fast-developing nations, such as China and Gulf oil nations to start paying as well.
Beijing opposes this, saying that as a developing country it does not have the same responsibility as long-industrialized nations like Britain and the United States.
While China is already investing hundreds of billions of dollars in electric vehicles and renewable energy abroad, it does so on its own terms.
Any COP29 deal would need consensus approval.

HOW MUCH IS NEEDED?

Developing countries say the specific amount needed to tackle climate change should be the starting point for negotiations to ensure the final target adequately covers their needs.
By most estimates, developing countries need more than $1 trillion, opens new tab per year to meet their climate goals and protect their societies from extreme weather.
Many countries have come to the Baku talks with a number in mind.
Arab countries including Saudi Arabia want a funding target of $1.1 trillion per year, with $441 billion directly from developed country governments in grants.
India, African countries and small island nations have also said more than $1 trillion should be raised per year, but with mixed views on how much should come from wealthy governments.
The rich countries expected to provide the money have not specified a target sum, though the US and the EU have agreed it must be more than the previous $100 billion target.
Some developed country diplomats say that, with national budgets already stretched by other economic pressures, a major increase beyond $100 billion is unrealistic.

WHY IT MATTERS

Climate change has accelerated. Human activities — mainly, burning fossil fuels — have heated up the planet’s long-term average temperature by around 1.3 Celsius, turbocharging disastrous floods, hurricanes and extreme heatwaves.
Countries’ plans for emissions cuts are not enough to slow climate change, and would instead lead to far worse warming.
Next year’s UN deadline for countries to update their national climate plans is a last opportunity to avert disaster, scientists say.
Negotiators have said a failure at COP29 to produce a major funding deal could result in countries offering weak climate plans on the grounds that they cannot afford to implement more ambitious ones.
Most of the world’s climate-friendly spending so far has been skewed toward major economies such as China and the United States. Africa’s 54 countries received just 2 percent of global renewable energy investments over the last two decades.

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UN climate funding draft narrows options, but obstacles remain

UN climate funding draft narrows options, but obstacles remain
Updated 13 November 2024
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UN climate funding draft narrows options, but obstacles remain

UN climate funding draft narrows options, but obstacles remain
  • A fresh draft of a UN climate deal released Wednesday proposes concrete options to raise funding for poorer countries

BAKU: A fresh draft of a UN climate deal released Wednesday proposes concrete options to raise funding for poorer countries, but leaves unresolved sticking points that have long delayed an agreement.
Landing a new accord to boost money for climate action in developing countries is the top priority of negotiators at the UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.
But it is deeply contentious, and consensus has eluded negotiators from nearly 200 nations for the better part of a year.
Most developing countries favor an annual commitment from wealthy countries of at least $1.3 trillion, according to the latest draft of the long-sought climate finance pact.
This figure is more than 10 times the $100 billion annually that a small pool of developed countries — among them the United States, the European Union and Japan — currently pay.
Some donors are reluctant to promise large new amounts of public money from their budgets at a time when they face economic and political pressure at home.
An earlier version of the draft was rejected outright by developing countries, which considered the proposed terms weighted too heavily toward wealthy nations.


Fresh submissions were called, and the new document summarises three broad positions.
The first argues that rich, industrialized nations most responsible for climate change to date pay from their budgets.
The second option calls for other countries to share the burden, a key demand of developed countries, while the third puts forward a mix of the two.
A bloc of least-developed nations, mostly from Africa, are asking for $220 billion while small-island states at threat from rising seas want $39 billion.
“The new text proposes more concrete options for reaching an agreement on the total amount, as well as specific objectives for the least developed or most vulnerable countries,” said Friederike Roder from Global Citizen, a non-government organization.
“Unfortunately, this search for precision stops there. The proposals aimed at clearly defining what constitutes climate finance, and ensuring close and transparent monitoring, remain insufficient,” she told AFP.
The latest 34-page draft reflects all the options on the table, said David Waskow, director at the World Resources Institute, a think tank.
“Negotiators now need to work to boil it down to some key decisions for the ministers to wrestle with next week,” he said.
COP29 runs until November 22 but climate talks often run into overtime.


Indonesia’s volcanic eruption grounds international flights on tourist island of Bali

Indonesia’s volcanic eruption grounds international flights on tourist island of Bali
Updated 13 November 2024
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Indonesia’s volcanic eruption grounds international flights on tourist island of Bali

Indonesia’s volcanic eruption grounds international flights on tourist island of Bali
  • Several international airlines have canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali because of an ongoing volcanic eruption

DENPASAR: Several international airlines canceled flights to and from Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali on Wednesday as an ongoing volcanic eruption left travelers stranded at airports.
Tourists told The Associated Press that they have been stuck at Bali’s airport since Tuesday after their flights were suddenly canceled.
“The airline did not provide accommodation, leaving us stranded at this airport,” said Charlie Austin from Perth, Australia, who was on vacation in Bali with his family.
Another Australian tourist, Issabella Butler, opted to find another airline that could fly her home.
“The important thing is that we have to be able to get out of here,” she said.
Media reports said that thousands of people were stranded at airports in Indonesia and Australia, but an exact number wasn’t given.
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano on the remote island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province spewed towering columns of hot ash high into the air since its initial huge eruption on Nov. 4 killed nine people and injured dozens of others.
The 1,584-meter (5,197-foot) volcano shot up ash at least 17 times on Tuesday, with the largest column recorded at 9 kilometers (5½ miles) high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation said in a statement.
Authorities on Tuesday expanded the danger zone as the volcano erupted again to 9 kilometers (5½ miles) as volcanic materials, including smoldering rocks, lava, and hot, thumb-size fragments of gravel and ash, were thrown up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater on Friday.
The activity at the volcano has disturbed flights at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai international airport since the eruption started, airport general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said. Over the past three days, 46 flights, including 30 scheduled to depart and 16 due to arrive, were affected.
Shahab said that at least 12 domestic flights and 22 overseas one were canceled on Tuesday alone. For these cancelations, the airlines were offering travelers a refund, or to reschedule or reroute, he said.
Three Australian airlines have also canceled or delayed a number of flights. Jetstar has paused its flights to Bali until at least Thursday, it said on its website, saying it was “currently not safe” to operate the route.
Virgin Australia’s website showed 10 services to and from Bali were canceled on Wednesday. Qantas said it has delayed three flights. Some airlines are offering fare refunds for upcoming Bali flights to passengers who don’t want to travel.
Air New Zealand canceled a flight to Denpasar scheduled for Wednesday and a return service to Auckland due to depart Bali on Thursday. Passengers would be rebooked and the airline would continue to monitor the movement of ash in the coming days, Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren said.
Korean Air said two of its flights headed to Bali were forced to turn back because of volcanic ash caused by the eruption.
The airline said Wednesday that the two flights — carrying about 400 passengers combined — that departed South Korea’s Incheon international airport on Tuesday turned back toward the origin departure a few hours later, following forecasts that said Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport could be affected by the volcanic ash. The two planes arrived in Incheon early Wednesday.
About 6,500 people were evacuated in January after Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki began erupting, spewing thick clouds and forcing the government to close the island’s Fransiskus Xaverius Seda Airport. No casualties or major damage were reported, but the airport has remained closed because of seismic activity.
Three other airports in neighboring districts of Ende, Larantuka and Bajawa have been closed since Monday after Indonesia’s Air Navigation issued a safety warning because of volcanic ash.
Lewotobi Laki Laki is one of a pair of stratovolcanoes in the East Flores district of East Nusa Tenggara province, known locally as the husband-and-wife mountains. “Laki laki” means man, while its mate is Lewotobi Perempuan, or woman. It’s one of the 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia, an archipelago of 280 million people.
The country is prone to earthquakes, landslides and volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.


South Korean president dusts off the golf clubs for Trump

South Korean president dusts off the golf clubs for Trump
Updated 13 November 2024
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South Korean president dusts off the golf clubs for Trump

South Korean president dusts off the golf clubs for Trump
  • Trump, who owns several courses in the United States and abroad, is a self-confessed golf addict
  • World leaders have tried — with mixed results — to cultivate personal bonds with Trump through golf

Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking up golf after years away from the game to prepare for future encounters with US President-elect Donald Trump, his office said Wednesday.
Yoon, 63, has not played in nearly a decade, an official told AFP, but in anticipation of the second Trump administration will dust off his clubs.
“In order for smooth conversations” President Yoon “needs to hit the ball properly,” a president’s office official said in a background briefing earlier this week.
Yoon previously regularly scored in the 90s, the daily Kyeongin Ilbo reported, citing a playing partner.
Trump, who owns several courses in the United States and abroad, is a self-confessed golf addict who frequently boasts about his ability on social media and claims a single-digit handicap.
At a press conference last week Yoon said people had told him he would have “good chemistry” with Trump, noting both had first been elected to top office as political novices.
Yoon was a former prosecutor before taking office in 2022.
World leaders have tried — with mixed results — to cultivate personal bonds with Trump through golf.
Late former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe played with Trump on multiple occasions and is reported to have gifted him a set of gold-plated clubs.
Video footage of Abe tumbling into a bunker during a round with Trump in 2017 went viral at the time.
Despite the golf diplomacy, Trump’s repeated vows to make Asian security allies pay a larger share of the financial burden for their protection, and his threats of tariffs to fix the US trade deficit, have sparked consternation in Seoul.
Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a pamphlet on X on Tuesday titled: “Korea Matters to the US,” which featured detailed statistics on South Korea’s economic contributions to its ally.
In one section, it boasts that South Korea has created 470,000 jobs in the US, providing “the highest annual salary” among Asian foreign direct investors in the country.
South Korea is also a “key importer of US weapons,” it said, and spends “2.8 of GDP” on defense.